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A new study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health indicates that asthmatic smokers who use e-cigarettes experience an improvement in their asthma symptoms and lung function, even if they remain dual users, according to a leading health expert.

The study (See: Polosa R, et al. “Effect of smoking abstinence and reduction in asthmatic smokers switching to electronic cigarettes: evidence for harm reversal.” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2014; doi:10.3390/ijerph110504965.) was the subject of a blog by Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health.

“The study examined 18 smokers with significant asthma who switched to electronic cigarettes,” said Siegel. “Ten of the patients switched completely and eight became dual users (both smoking and using e-cigarettes). Among the dual users, the average cigarette consumption dropped from 22.4 to 3.9 cigarettes per day.

“After one year follow-up, both the ex-smokers and dual users experienced a significant improvement in asthma symptoms and lung function, especially small airways obstruction. Although the improvements in lung function were small, the improvements in asthma symptoms were clinically relevant.”

Siegel said that while the study was preliminary because of the small sample size, it demonstrated that for smokers who were unable to quit smoking using traditional therapies, the use of e-cigarettes might be a viable alternative to help them quit or substantially cut down and might result in improved respiratory health symptoms.

A leading U.S. health expert has said that calls for bans on flavored e-cigarettes are disingenuous in the mouths of those who don’t oppose the addition of menthol to tobacco cigarettes.

Dr. Michael Siegel, a professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, Boston University School of Public Health, last week challenged the position of a group of U.S. senators pushing for a ban on flavored electronic cigarettes.

While the senators said they were concerned about the potential for flavored products to addict young people to nicotine, they had supported an exemption for menthol from the tobacco cigarette flavoring ban, Siegel said. And they were taking no action to remove this exemption or to demand that the Food and Drug Administration ban the addition of menthol to cigarettes.

Later in the week, Siegel pointed to an opinion piece in The New York Times by the president of the American Lung Association, Harold Wimmer, who had argued that e-cigarettes were addicting young people and serving as a gateway to tobacco addiction. Based on that alleged “fact,” said Siegel, Wimmer had argued that e-cigarette flavorings should be banned.

Again, Siegel pointed out that the association had opposed an amendment that would have eliminated the menthol exemption in the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act.

And, he said, the association was not calling also for a ban on flavors in cigarettes that attracted young people—menthol.

Siegel’s blog is at http://tobaccoanalysis.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/american-lung-association-is-also.html.

E-cigarettes have enjoyed massive growth in the U.S. during the past two years, with sales increasing from $283 million in 2012 to $537 million in 2013, according to new research by Mintel.

In 2013, the market for e-cigarettes was on par with the market for smoking cessation gum, the largest segment of the smoking cessation market.

E-cigarette sales were in sharp contrast to those of the smoking cessation category, which went up by $95 million, or 10 percent, between 2008 and 2013. Between 2013 and 2018, Mintel forecasts growth of only $7 million.

“The sharp falloff in growth of the smoking cessation category between 2012 and 2013 and the forecasted decline over the next five years are largely due to the explosive popularity of e-cigarettes,” said Molly Maier, category manager, health, household, beauty and personal care, Mintel.

Thailand’s Public Health Ministry plans to push through legislation to drag e-cigarettes under existing laws controlling the sale of tobacco cigarettes, according to a story in The Nation.

The move seems to be a step forward for e-cigarettes, which have been banned in Thailand for about five years but, nevertheless, have been growing in popularity.

Dr. Nopporn Cheunklin, deputy chief of the Public Health Ministry’s Disease Control Department, said that since e-cigarettes were popular despite being prohibited, the ministry had decided to draft a law and put them under the same controls as were applied to traditional cigarettes and other tobacco products.

The draft of the new law is due to be sent to parliament for consideration “soon.”

Health officials have considered banning the use of e-cigarettes in enclosed public places in England, according to a story in The Independent quoting “documents from a recent board meeting.”

The suggestion, said to have been one of a number of options raised at a Public Health England (PHE) meeting in February, proposed prohibiting e-cigarette use in “workplaces, educational and public places to ensure their use did not undermine smoking prevention and cessation by reinforcing and normalising smoking.”

But PHE says that it has not called for a ban, and is still considering options.

“We have not called for a ban on e-cigarette use in public spaces,” said professor Kevin Fenton, PHE’s national director health and well-being.

“PHE is working with our partners to consider the options for supporting safe use of e-cigarettes to reduce harm and support smokers to quit, some of which were discussed by our board in February.”

E-cigarettes can change gene expression in a similar way to that of tobacco, according to a story by Daniel Cressey for Nature quoting one of the first studies to investigate the biological effects of the devices.

Presented at the American Association for Cancer Research’s annual meeting in San Diego, California, USA ,the research looked at human bronchial cells that contained some mutations found in smokers at risk of lung cancer. The cells were immortalized, grown in culture medium that had been exposed to e-cigarette vapor and their gene expression profiled.

The researchers found that the cells grown in medium exposed to the vapor of e-cigarettes showed a similar pattern of gene expression to those grown in a medium exposed to tobacco smoke.

The changes were not identical, said study researcher, Avrum Spira, who works on genomics and lung cancer at Boston University in Massachusetts. But “there are some striking similarities,” he said.

The researchers are now evaluating whether the alterations mean that cells behave more like cancer cells in culture.

The work is at a very early stage and therefore cannot establish that e-cigarettes can cause cancer in vitro, let alone in vivo.

Spira said that the use of e-cigarettes might be safer than the use of tobacco cigarettes, but that the researcher’s preliminary studies suggested that the use of the former might not be benign.

Some state lawmakers in Washington, USA, want to levy a 75 percent tax on e-cigarettes, according to a story by Annaliese Davis for the Bellingham Herald.

Sponsored by Seattle Rep. Reuven Carlyle, a Democrat, H.B. 2795 would subject e-cigarettes and other tobacco substitutes to a 75 percent tax, though it would exempt e-cigarettes prescribed by physicians to aid individuals in quitting tobacco, should e-cigarettes be found to be a cessation aid.

Carlyle’s original proposal called for a 95 percent tax, but the rate was reduced to 75 percent in legislation that passed out of the House Finance Committee on Tuesday morning.

The proposed bill passed 7-6, with Chris Reykdal, a Democrat representative, siding with Republican committee members against taxation.

Reykdal said that without data from the Food and Drug Administration, it was hard for him to justify punishing individuals trying to make a potentially healthier choice.

A group of doctors, professors and health advocates are calling on the Canadian federal government to authorize the sale in Canada of e-cigarettes containing nicotine.

Writing in The Gazette on behalf of the group, Gaston Ostiguy said e-cigarettes offered a safer and more acceptable alternative to regular cigarettes for smokers to appease their addiction.

No doubt, tremendous strides had been made over the years to impose a strict regulatory framework on regular cigarettes, he said, and more could be done. But it was wishful thinking that one day nicotine use would be eradicated. The vast majority of smokers wanted to quit, but studies showed that only 10 percent of them were still abstinent after trying to quit during the previous year.

“In such a context, we believe that the time has come for tobacco control to move beyond the usual approaches of education, total nicotine cessation and prevention,” Ostiguy said. “In a landmark report published in 2007, the Royal College of Physicians makes a compelling case why harm reduction should no longer be ignored by health authorities to lower the death and disease caused by tobacco use.”

Ostiguy’s piece is at http://www.montrealgazette.com/health/time+authorize+sale+electronic+cigarettes/9655937/story.html.

The United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Health has rejected requests from shop owners for permission to sell e-cigarettes and electronic shisha pipes, according to a story in The National.

Officials told The National’s Arabic-language paper, Al Ittihad, that a number of municipalities had referred store owners to the ministry for advice on applying for licenses to sell e-cigarettes.

However, officials at the ministry said the sale of e-cigarettes had been banned after the products had been examined and found to be harmful to health.

Apparently, the officials dismissed claims that e-cigarettes could help people quit smoking.

They said that such products had not been proved to be safe, so their sale could not be allowed in the UAE.

The ban was said to be part of the ministry’s efforts to fight all forms of smoking and tobacco.

JAC Vapour has launched an e-liquid that emits no vapor when exhaled, according to a company press note issued through PRNewswire.

The company described Clear Steam as being the first British-made, branded e-liquid that emitted no vapor.

It said the innovative product could revolutionize vaping in public spaces.

Existing e-liquids emit a visible vapor when puffed by e-cigarette consumers, something that has led to calls for the use of these devices to be banned in public places, as has happened in the case of cigarettes and cigars.

JAC says Clear Steam has the same strength, flavor and throat hit as does its other e-liquids.